Hello again folks, as we well and truly leave summer behind us, I thought I would take a moment to inform as many people as possible about what a great summer we had here in Plymouth.

Plymouth residents actually originate from lots of different areas, mostly due to the naval personnel that relocate here and bring their families down here to live with them but also the student population that come down here to study and find that they love the place so much that they decide to make it their home.

It is said that Plymouth has the most beautiful natural harbour in the world, so let’s start with our coastline and waterways. There is something on offer for everyone, whether it is coastal path walks, horse riding on beaches, kayaking, paddle boarding, sailing, motor sports, sea swimming, scuba diving, fossil hunting or just plain sitting down and looking out to sea, there is more than enough to take your fancy.

How about taking an afternoon on Plymouth Boat Trips? Did you know that you can hire a boat for a river cruise, corporate event, birthdays, anniversaries, romantic sunset cruises or even if you want to scatter a loved one’s ashes at sea. I have personally used them on multiple occasions for entertaining family friends and clients alike and every time, it has been a huge success. I have also hired Plymouth Rib Rides for a birthday treat for a member of the family, it was brilliant exhilarating fun.

Another favourite of mine is a bit more relaxed, take a trip on the historic foot passenger ferry from Stonehouse to The Rame Peninsula, loved for centuries by all who have travelled on her, the Cremyll Ferry is one of Plymouth’s true gems even if the crossing only takes eight minutes, the stunning backdrop of Royal William Yard and Plymouth Sound are definitely going to be a memory that you will treasure.

Being on the coastline of Devon, Plymouth has a number of marinas with incredible views and some offering an array of places to eat and attractions to give you that sense of a real coastal holiday experience. The surrounding towns and villages of Plymouth have some of the most spectacular sandy beaches, perfect for basking in the sun, water sports or crab fishing.

Keeping to the water theme, what about a day at the aquarium? The National Marine Aquarium, to give it its full title, was opened in May 1998. It is the largest aquarium in the UK and is home to over 5,000 marine animals. It acts as an educational institution by teaching visitors about the marine environment but is so much more and really good fun for all the family. Located in Sutton Harbour beside Plymouth Fish Market. If you cross the foot bridge over to the historic Barbican, there are lots of interesting and varied attractions from antique shops, bars, restaurants, coffee shops, tourist shops and of course the famous 15^th Century Mayflower Steps where the Pilgrims set off for America in 1620.

Plymouth has 37 ancient monuments including boundary stone, milestones and other key markers which add a huge amount of interest to any budding history buffs looking in to the local landscape heritage. There is a Plymouth Trails app that you can download to make this an interesting and fun day for the family.

For those of you who like the arts, then Plymouth is definitely the place for you to come and visit. One of my personal favourite places is the Theatre Royal, located on Royal Parade. Such an obviously identifiable building with its striking architecture and the iconic statue of Messenger looming tall to the front of the building at 7 meters tall. This beautiful work of art was created by a Cornish artist, Joseph Hillier, and depicts an actress in a crouching position about to run on to a stage.

This installation was commissioned by the theatre and was unveiled to the public in 2019 as part of Plymouth City’s Mayflower 400 celebrations. We are very lucky to have such a fantastic theatre in our city as we are often privileged to have productions debut here before they go on national tours as we also have TR2 (Theatre Royal 2). This is a Production and Learning Centre on the bank of the River Plym. It contains set, costume, prop-making and rehearsal facilities for new productions as well as being one of the biggest education and outreach programmes for a regional venue in the UK.

One of the city’s newest attractions is The Box. Plymouth’s biggest art gallery and cultural centre which is now home to thousands of fascinating objects from all around the world and includes many local exhibits spotlighting Plymouth’s heritage and achievements. Plymouth prides itself on its arts and culture and regularly hosts many exhibitions and events throughout the year.

If you are happy to drive just a few minutes north of the city you’ll find one of the finest and largest national parks in Britain – Dartmoor! What a fantastical mesmerizing place this is, so much so, I will keep this one for my next blog about our fabulous City of Plymouth…

Hello everyone, it’s been a few months since my last blog and lots of things have changed. I finally got married and luckily just before I turned fifty. We won the “Best Estates Agent & the Best Letting Agent” in Plymouth again for the fifth year on the run. We’ve refurbished our Stoke Office to a brilliant standard that puts us right at the forefront of our industry and back in the heart of Stoke Village, but probably the best change for everyone is the change of seasons since spring is here again, banishing the long, cold and dark evening to history for another year at least.

Looking at spring makes me want to be back out in my garden again, which is where I find my solace and calm, pottering around, seeing the shoots of new growth on the plants that I have planted over the last two years, primroses coming up, daffodils in flower, camellias budding and colours beginning to come through all the greenery and also looking forward to getting back to the garden centres to see what I can buy for the garden this year.

People often think that being an estate agent is either boring or very exciting and not much in between, but let me tell you this, there is nothing that we love more than being right in the middle of this and right in the middle of the community. I bet you didn’t know that Cross Keys Estates sponsor a community garden in Stoke. We are extremely proud to be the sponsor of The Rectory Community Garden and love seeing the locals finally get to enjoy this piece of ground that has been overgrown for so many years.

Jill & Rob moved to the area after Cross Keys Estates sold their previous property over 10 years ago. Since becoming residents, Jill & Rob have helped sort out lots of community events and now enjoy looking after the community garden along with other resident volunteers. Jill has also joined “The Gardening Club” a Facebook page that I set up during the second Covid 19 lockdown as I got frustrated with all the other pages that were online, my thoughts were, people simply can’t get angry when looking at fabulous gardens and beautiful plants and I was right. We now have nearly 1,500 members, not only from Plymouth but now from all around the world.

Now that we have our fantastic new shop front in our Stoke office, it seems that refreshing the village is catching on. The old toilet block that was by the entrance to Mount Pleasant Recreation Ground (The Blockhouse) have finally been demolished. It has been a very long time in the making as the toilets were due to be demolished nearly 20 years ago. In their place will be a spanking new garden. I must admit that I am more than a little excited that we will finally have something beautiful to look out on to instead of an old toilet block that was never used, just simply abused or used as a fly tipping area.

So, with gardens and gardening as my theme to this blog, I want to move on to the importance of all outside spaces when it comes to your properties and putting it on the market.

If the Covid pandemic taught us anything, it taught us the value of outside spaces and how much we really do need them. I think a lot of people underestimated how much we love our parks and green spaces until we were not allowed to use them. Now they have become more important than ever, and every spare inch of outside space should be cherished and used.

I have been out valuing so many properties since the new year, some apartments, some terraced houses and some magnificent, detached properties, the one thing that was in common with nearly all of them was how fantastic their outdoor spaces were. Balconies with pots and baskets, waterfront properties with terraces brimming over with coastal climbing plants, terraced houses with stunning courtyards and even some growing their own veg in raised boxes to detached residences with wrap around gardens and beautiful floral borders. No matter what size property or what size outside space you have, there is no reason not to make it beautiful with plants, this will definitely add to the saleability and also, it’s desirability to more buyers.

If you are looking to sell your property and want to know if now is the right time to consider putting it on the market, give Cross Keys Estates a call and see if our truly professional, premier service and competitive fees are what you have been looking for.